Proteins are important building blocks for a growing child. They are required for growth, maintenance and repair of body tissues. Different kinds of specialized proteins also perform many important functions like carrying oxygen in our cells and fighting infections. In a recent Ask the Expert column, dietitian Emma Stirling wrote about protein power and offered tips on getting enough protein in your child’s diet. Children 1-3 years old need about 0.5 g of protein per pound of body weight, which comes to about 13-16 g of daily protein. In most cases, it is not a problem to get this much from a typical American diet. But if you have a picky eater, or if you are following a strict vegetarian diet, you need to pay a little extra attention to your child’s protein needs.

In this week’s Five for Fridays, I want to highlight 5 vegetarian sources of proteins. We routinely include them in our meals using many of our simple recipes. Even if you are not a strict vegetarian, you can try them occasionally to bring variety to your diet.

Lentils

Source: Wikimedia

Lentils are dry seeds of a pulse crop. They are rich in protein, iron, dietary fiber and B vitamins. More importantly, they are rich in the essential amino acids (there are 9 essential amino acids our body cannot produce). Sprouted lentils provide all of the 9 amino acids. On a 100 g dry weight basis, lentils provide 26 g of protein! Just like whole grains, soaking lentils  in water removes phytates which allows better mineral absorption in the GI tract.

One of our favorite recipes is a lentil soup which we often eat with basmati rice.

Chick Peas

Source: Wikimedia

Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, have been around for a long time! You will find them in almost any cuisine around the world, especially in the Middle East, Mediterranean and South East Asia. They are super rich in protein, vitamins and minerals like calcium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc.

Here is one of our recipes with beef and chickpeas. There are many different ways to cook chickpeas without any meat.

Red Kidney Beans

Wikimedia Commons

There are many different types of beans, but our favorite are red kidney beans. They provide a lot of protein, iron, calcium, B vitamins, magnesium and zinc. Soaking them in water overnight reduces cooking time and removes complex sugars that would otherwise cause indigestion and gas.

Red kidney beans with olive oil is one of our favorite recipes.

Nuts

Source: Wikimedia

Unlike vegetables, nuts are actually dried fruit. If your child does not have any allergies to nuts, they can offer a good balance of calories from fat, carbs and proteins. Our favorites are almonds, walnuts, pecans and hazelnut. We like to soak almonds overnight in water then peel the skin off before eating the soft white core. We use walnuts in salads and pecans in some of our recipes like the steak and vegetables with pecans casserole. Nuts also provide healthy fats such as monounsaturated fats and omega 3 fatty acids.

Quinoa

We discovered quinoa not too long ago, and since then it has taken up a regular place in our kitchen cabinets. Quinoa is really the unrecognized superfood because it is not so common in America. It is beginning to be more available now in some stores, so check it out! It is low in glycemic index, and although it is not a grain, it can be a nice replacement to rice with your entree. It is a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals.

One of our favorite recipe is chicken with quinoa. And for the strictly vegetarian, here is our quinoa with vegetables.

Enjoy these recipes and let me know what is on your mind!

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

Ask The Expert is a weekly column on Littlestomaks.com. The idea is to have a reader-submitted question answered by a nutrition expert or a pediatrician. Feel free to submit your question in the comments section below.

This week, Registered Dietitian Emma Stirling offers a few handy tips on how to get enough protein in your child’s diet.

Question: What is the best way to get protein into a diet with a child who’s fussy?

Answer:

Air and water.  Well, so the saying goes that toddlers seem to survive on air and water, as their food intake appears so minimal at times.  But when it comes to optimal growth and development, it’s important to keep an eye on key growth nutrients including the powerhouse protein.  Let’s take a closer look at where you find protein, how much kids’ need and what you can do to help them power up.

What is it?

Protein is made up of chains of smaller components called amino acids, also known as the building blocks of our bodies.  Muscles, skin, hair and blood cells as well as hormones, enzymes and antibodies, are all made up of a combo of amino acids.

There are about 20 different amino acids that, in different combinations, make up the countless millions of proteins available in nature.   And there are two broad classes of amino acids: those that can be made by the human body (non-essential amino acids) and those that can only be supplied by food (essential amino acids).   A protein’s nutritional value is judged by how many of the essential amino acids it provides and in what quantity.

Where do you get it?

Different foods contain different combos and amounts of amino acids as proteins. Generally speaking, animal protein contains all of the essential amino acids.  Plant proteins usually lack at least one amino acid. There are exceptions to this like soy products and the seed of a leafy green called amaranth (consumed in Asia and the Mediterranean).

Nutritious sources of protein include: Meat, poultry and fish, eggs, dairy products, seeds and nuts, beans and lentils, soy products, grains especially wheat and less so rice, barley and corn.

In line with dietary guidelines it’s important to choose lean cuts of meat, trim the fat and go easy on processed meats like sausages and sliced ham as these are also high in saturated fat, sodium and artificial additives.

How much is enough?

Protein needs differ by age, weight, gender and life stage.  The US Recommended Dietary Allowance for children 1-3years is 13g/day of protein. In my country Australia, the NHMRC Recommended Dietary Intakes for 1-3 year olds is 14g/day of protein.  To put this in perspective, two large eggs provide 12.7g of protein or close to a toddlers total daily protein requirements.  So it’s no surprise to hear that nutrition surveys show that protein is not generally an at risk nutrient.  It is also possible for a toddler to consume enough protein for proper growth and development by following a vegan or vegetarian style of eating.  Make sure you speak with your health professional about balancing your child’s diet and seek expert advice from a Registered or Accredited Practising Dietitian.

Top toddler tips to slip in more protein:

Keep it coming – aim to include small serves of protein at each main meal and slip in extras at snack time.  Try:
Breakfast

• Wake up to a poached or hard-boiled egg with wholegrain toast fingers
• Whip up fruit smoothies with reduced fat milk and natural, Greek style yogurt

Snacks

• Spread nut butters on celery sticks for home snacking, away from nut-free zones
• Blend up a quick hummus with canned chickpeas

Lunch

• Make a baked bean toasted sandwich for lunch
• Mix up a tiny tuna mornay with cheese sauce

Dinner

• Toss some small cubes of tofu with bite-sized veggie stir-fry
• Make mini-meat balls for homemade cheeseburgers on round dinner rolls

Chew on this – overtired toddlers can find chewing meat at dinner time challenging, so make sure you use slow cooking methods to tenderize meat or cook with a sauce like a casserole style or mince bolognaise.
Petite is sweet – don’t overwhelm your child with a huge serve of meat.  As a rule of thumb adults should stick to a portion-controlled palm size serve of steak and little kids…well, just a thumb size may do!
Add flavor – experiment with different flavours too. Your three year old may soon learn to love curry, especially if they have been exposed to the cooking aromas as a baby.
Maximize variety – if your toddler wants mince meat all the time, extend their variety by branching out into different recipes….that still look like mince.  Think tacos, spaghetti, meatloaf, shepherd’s pie or your own masterpiece.

As a general guide aim to clock up 3-4 serves of lean red meat per week for valuable iron and zinc and 2-3 serves of fish for brain boosting omega 3 fatty acids.  And remember, research shows us that young children are naturally wary of new foods (known as neophobia) so the key is to try and try and try and try again.  One of the best health head starts you can give your young child is exposure to a huge variety of different nutritious foods and dishes.

Play your protein cards right and before you know it, your toddler that lived on air and water, will become the “I just don’t know where he puts it” ravenous teenager.

©2010 Littlestomaks.com. All Rights Reserved

Disclaimer – Information provided in Ask The Expert column on Littlestomaks.com is intended to give you general guidance on a question related to toddler nutrition. It is not meant to be treated as medical advice. You are welcome to contact this expert for a detailed consultation on your specific situation to determine what actions, if any, you should take regarding nutrition and health of your toddlers. We do not recommend you to take any action based solely on the information presented in this column. Experts have agreed to provide their professional opinion on toddler nutrition related questions on a voluntary basis and no compensation is offered to them by Littlestomaks.com.

Wall Street Journal reported last week that sales of children’s supplements in 2008 were around $1.1 billion and growing at 4-6% each year. This is the first time data is available for kids supplements, although there is little doubt that multivitamins and mineral supplements are a big business. Just look at the amount of space they occupy on the shelf at a typical supermarket!

I am sure the question has come to your mind – should you give your child a supplement?

The position of the American Dietetic Association, which I agree with completely, is that food should be the primary source of vitamins and minerals your child needs. In general, it is very unlikely that your child has a strong need for additional supplementation even if he is a picky eater or does not seem to eat enough fruits and veggies! The Wall Street Journal article cites a study of 1847 pre-schoolers in Belgium which suggested that both supplement users and those who did not take them were often meeting their nutritional needs through food alone with the exception of vitamin D.

Having said that, there are situations where you do want to discuss the subject of supplements with your pediatrician. In 5 Reasons To Consider A Multivitamin Supplement, I wrote about a few of these situations:

1. If you are exclusively breastfeeding (0-24 months)
2. If your child’s diet is primarily vegetarian (2-5  years)
3. If your child does not eat enough fruits and veggies (2-5 years)
4. If you have a picky eater (2-5 years)
5. If your child’s growth profile is slower than normal (2-5 years)

The keyword here is consider - which means you should research this option and bring it up for discussion with your pediatrician or dietitian. Some experts believe that a majority of children today need some kind of supplementation, most frequently vitamin D, probiotics and omega-3, to fully optimize their nutrient intake. That may or may not apply to your child. It is very important to look at your child’s health history and growth profile over a long period of time. Just because he has become a picky eater over the last few weeks and does not eat any fruits and veggies is not enough of a reason to jump on the supplements bandwagon!

There is another aspect to supplement use. I wrote about another study of over 10,000 children 2-17 years old which concluded that kids who really need vitamins don’t get them. The point was that children from affluent households with a fairly good health profile were the biggest consumers of supplements.

In other words, parents are giving supplements to their children just in case and that they do not think there is any risk. Clearly, supplement makers focus on this behavior with their marketing and product mix. The problem is that there can be a downside if you are not careful. Here are a few possibilities -

1. Risk of overdose, particularly vitamin A which can cause liver problems and lower bone density
2. Overdose of iron can be fatal
3. Zinc overdose causes copper deficiency which can cause anemia (low red blood cells)
4. Poorly balanced formulation with respect to your child’s needs
5. One product containing high amount of selenium caused vomiting and diarrhea
6. Unknown impurities, sugar, artificial colors

The fact remains that unlike pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplements are not rigorously regulated by the FDA. Some rules do exist and the FDA has the power to force product recalls, but it is only when there is a reported problem. As a result, a few bad products actually manage to slip through the cracks.

Bottom line: Treat vitamins and other supplements like drugs and use them only after consulting with your doctor. Choose a quality product with high purity ingredients (look for the USP seal).

Are you using a supplement with your child? Share your reasons and the type of supplement in comments below.

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

As part of the National Nutrition Month®, March 10th this month was celebrated as the National Registered Dietitian (RD) Day. I have a lot of respect for registered dietitians – many have answered questions from readers in Ask the Expert column on this blog. I think this recognition is well deserved!

It is Friday again, which means it is time for the usual Five for Fridays! This week, I want to highlight 5 informative posts by registered dietitians who contributed to a recent blogfest. RD’s in this blogfest were asked a simple question – If you could give only one message, what would that be? There is a wide range of ideas from RD’s in response to this question! Check them out and leave a comment to share your opinions.

Get your kids interested in cooking

That is the message from Robin Plotkin in her post Give a kid a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a kid to fish, feed him for life! The idea is simple, yet quite powerful; one that has the potential to totally change our relationship with food and eating. Instead of relying on carry-outs, drive-thrus and ready-to-eat meals, you could get your kids involved in the whole process of putting food on the table. Get their input in meal planning, take them out for grocery shopping, and do a cooking project in the kitchen with them.

We have sort of getting started on it with simple projects like making chicken quesadillas! Try it out, it’s a lot of fun, although it takes a little planning.

Don’t label food as good or bad, enjoy it

In her post Enjoy food, Heather reminds us that food should not be labeled as good or bad; rather we should take a look at our behaviors and environment to find solutions to our diet and health related problems. We have become so separated from how our food is grown and where it comes from, that all we can rely upon is the nutrition facts panel on the box. The quality of food is determined by calories, fat, sugar, salt, protein, vitamins and minerals. Not by how it is made, how it is eaten and how it is shared with friends and family. There is a cultural aspect to food and eating which has gone completely missing from modern life.

Heather’s message is a simple reminder to enjoy food without guilt while still being mindful of what your body tells you. Get to know your food and choose natural or minimally processed foods. Her message resonated with me a lot especially after I read Michelle May’s book Eat what you love, love what you eat! The risk here is that if you don’t exercise mindful eating and don’t listen to your body, you can take this guiltless eating along a negative spiral. That works only in food advertising, not in real life!

Eating healthy at home is super easy, give it a shot

You don’t have to be a high-profile chef to prepare simple, wholesome, nutritious meal! Or go out of your way to find ways to include fruits and veggies in your daily diet. Simple, but creative, changes can help you eat healthy everyday according to these eat well tips from Janel. I like her simple approach and ideas for getting fruits and veggies at every meal. She also points out that just by keeping a small inventory of whole grains and proteins in your pantry, lean meats and frozen vegetables in your refrigerator, you can make a variety of combo meals simply by boiling water, heating an oven or opening a can of beans!

Once you get in the habit of preparing your meals at home from simple recipes, it becomes a part of daily routine and doesn’t seem like a big task. Getting your kids involved, as suggested by other bloggers, is also a good idea!

Formula for a healthy diet – 90% plants, 10% animal foods

You don’t need one diet for cancer prevention, one diet for diabetes and one diet for heart disease, says Diane Perves on her blog as she makes a case for a mainly vegetarian diet in her article Only one message. Simply increase the amount of plant based foods such as vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds and reduce the amount of animal based foods like meats and dairy. That is the core of dietary guidelines and a variety of diets. The sad fact of the Standard American Diet (SAD) is that the food triangle has been flipped on its head with vegetables at the bottom and animal products providing 70% of the daily calories.

Of course this does not mean that you need to go cold turkey on meat and dairy completely. What it means is that you can start out by making small changes as you work toward getting your food triangle sitting on its broad base rather than its pointy head!

To D or not to D, is no longer the question

Dietitian Debra is clear and emphatic in her recommendation that you take vitamin D supplements during pregnancy and also give it to your children. Food sources of vitamin D are rare and hours of sunshine limited during the winter. Recent data suggests a broad deficiency of vitamin D and recommendations are pouring in from experts about using a supplement and even taking more than the current daily recommendation of400 IU.

I do agree that vitamin D is very important for growing children. However, I am not convinced that there is widespread vitamin D deficiency and that it is very hard to get enough vitamin D in kids via food. All milk is fortified with vitamin D. So is several brands of orange juice. Kids cereals typically have vitamin D fortification. Eating fish even once a week can provide a lot of vitamin D. There is considerable disagreement about what can be considered as deficiency, especially in kids. And there is no real evidence to suggest that the daily dose should be increased beyond the current recommendation.

Having said that, there is no harm in using a supplement within the suggested dose if that offers you a peace of mind. There are always special situations where your child may definitely benefit. Here is how you can tell if your child may have a vitamin D problem. If you suspect that your child may be in this situation, consult with your doctor first.

Enjoy and let me know what is on your mind.

Photo Source: noahg on Flickr via everystockphoto

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

This is the National School Lunch Week. Improving the quality of school nutrition is one of the ways to address the problem of childhood obesity. It is encouraging to see that the USDA has established the HealthierUS School Challenge to recognize schools that promote good nutrition and physical activity. This week, Secretary Tom Vilsack is recognizing schools who have achieved the “Gold” status in this program. My question is: how come more schools are not participating in this program? The Secretary should address the barriers to his program’s adoption and measure performance in a transparent way. Only then he can hope to achieve the scale needed to truly address childhood obesity.

Here are the 5 nutrition related news that caught my eye this week. Enjoy and drop me a comment to share your thoughts.

Honey! I shrunk the food ingredient list

In a positive trend, Registered Dietitian Janet Helm (@JanetHelm) points out that packaged food producers are scrambling to simplify and shrink the list of ingredients on their products. Michael Pollan should feel happy – after all, he is the one who has been telling people not to buy foods that contain more than 5 ingredients or difficult to pronounce ingredients! Actually, I agree with him and welcome this trend. Even though all these ingredients including additives, colorants and preservatives are considered to be safe, it just doesn’t make sense to me when I pick up a product which has over 20 ingredients. Why process the food so much?

Some of the new products – Haagen-Dazs five ice cream for example – now claim to be made just like the way you would make at home with only a handful of ingredients. Hmmm…I wonder if they cost more than the regular products! That would be a brilliant marketing idea – make more money with less!

Rice eaters have healthier diets – really?

A new study based on national food consumption surveys finds that rice eaters in general tend to have healthier diets because they eat more grains, more vegetables and dietary fiber, less added fat, less saturated fat and less added sugar. Rice is cheap and provides a rich source of carbohydrates.

I was intrigued by this news, not because we eat a lot of rice in hour household, but because the correlation implied that people should switch to rice! But then upon a closer look at the story I found that this research was sponsored by the USA Rice Federation. There is nothing wrong in urging people to eat more rice, but then the study should also point to the risks of eating too much rice. White rice is a refined grain and even when enriched with added vitamins and minerals, it is nutritionally inferior to brown rice. It also has a high glycemic index which will make your blood sugar rise rapidly. On the other hand, brown rice comes with an expiration date, may be more expensive, takes longer to cook and you may not like its chewy texture.

Just because someone eats rice, does not mean their diet is healthy on its own.

Home remedies for the common cold not backed by science

No doubt, eating warm chicken soup when you are down with the cold and flu is very comforting. But is there any scientific evidence that home remedies like the chicken soup, drinking plenty of fluids, vitamin C, zinc, echinacea, honey and garlic can treat or prevent your sickness? In an extremely well-researched article, Dr Ayala (@DrAyala) concludes that there is no solid scientific evidence on food, nutrients and relief from the common cold. Her advice – you can try these home remedies for comfort, and they don’t hurt except that you need to be careful about supplements.

I do take vitamin C every day, but I am under no illusion that it is the magic bullet for preventing cold and flu. The best way to prevent cold and flu is to avoid contact with sick people and frequently wash your hands. Vitamin C is an immunity booster, not an immunity builder. Proper nutrition, healthy lifestyle, good hygiene are the building blocks for good health. Not an isolated supplement!

New York City bans bake sales in schools

Would banning bake sales from schools solve the childhood obesity problem? New York City regulators seem to think so! They seem to be on a roll because in their zeal to impose a wellness policy, they are going after everything they can find which can be labeled as nutritionally evil for the health of our children. This is nutritionism at its best without regard to the cultural norms.

You might be wondering why it bothers me so much! After all, I don’t live in New York City and my children are too young to go to school.

What I find troublesome is that regulators and policy makers feel that simply by making new rules and demonstrating their power, they can change unhealthy behaviors. It is only the stick, never the carrot! In this case, everybody is rightly upset that they will lose a very traditional way of raising funds for school activities. But are the regulators providing any alternative? A few exceptions to the new rules are provided, but they are practically useless in terms of fundraising.

They should try to focus on encouraging children to make the right choices about their eating habits in the long run. Not simply ban stuff without providing alternatives.

Parents magazine offers tips for turning your baby into a veggie lover

Dr Greene, the author of Feeding Baby Green, has a nice article in the November issue of the Parents magazine. He advises to build on your child’s curiosity about colorful things by introducing him to colorful fruits and veggies. Start early, keep trying,  and introduce variety right from the very beginning. A lot of parents are concerned about allergies, so they do not introduce new foods quickly. He disagrees with this approach and offers scientific data which suggests that babies learn to love new flavors best when they are introduced to new foods in rapid succession. He gives you a nice list of 21 plant families you should sample with your child before he reaches the age of 1.

It may work, or it may not work – and of course, all bets are off in the toddler years! That is when they get picky and nothing seems to work anymore. Here are a few articles we have published to help you with fruits and veggies:

Ask the Expert – Developing a Taste for Fruits and Veggies
Help! My Kids Don’t Eat Enough Fruits and Veggies
Ask the Expert – Getting Complete Nutrition on a Vegetarian Diet
Help Your Child with Autism Have Fun with Food

Enjoy and do let me know you think. I would love to have you share your best tips in comments below.

Photo source -tomhe on Flickr via everystockphoto
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

Ask The Expert is a weekly column on Littlestomaks.com. The idea is to have a reader-submitted question answered by a nutrition expert or a pediatrician. Feel free to submit your question in the comments section below.

This week, Registered Dietitian Rebecca Subbiah offers advice on how to ensure a balanced, nutritious vegetarian diet for your toddler.

Question: My child is on a vegetarian diet. How can I ensure he is getting proper nutrition? Should I give him any supplements?

Answer:

It is very possible for a toddler to follow a vegetarian diet along with the family, as long as it’s well balanced and varied to ensure nutritional adequacy.

Toddlers have unique nutritional needs based on their age and growth, needing between 1000-1400kcal a day, 3 -4 servings of grains, such as a slice of bread, ½ a cup of pasta, half of the servings coming from whole grains. A vegetarian diet should be rich in fruits and vegetables of all the colors of the rainbow in order to get the range of vitamin’s and minerals. Aim for 1-2 cups of vegetables a day and 1-2 cups of fruit per day.

In regard to dairy, aim for 2 cups of milk a day, full fat for the first few years, cheese and yogurt to meet calcium and vitamin D requirements for growing bones. Toddlers between the ages of 2-4 need 500mg of calcium and 400IU of vitamin D. If your child cannot tolerate dairy use calcium fortified cereal and soy products, some orange juice is also fortified with calcium.

A nutrient of concern in a vegetarian diet is iron as the most easily absorbed sources come from meat. Toddlers need 7mg of iron a day, especially after one year as their stores are depleted. Ensure your toddler doesn’t fill up on drinking too much milk and eats well at meal times. Provide iron fortified grains, tofu and beans. With meals serve them along with vitamin C rich foods, such as orange juice, broccoli, strawberries and tomatoes as vitamin C aids iron absorption.

It is also important to eat good sources of protein such as lentils, beans and pulses. Offer your toddler 3-4 servings of protein a day with a serving being ¼ cup of cooked dry beans, or one egg. Look up recipes from around the globe for inspiration particularly in countries that are predominantly vegetarian such as India. You will find a wealth of recipe ideas with dals using lentils, dishes like pongal that combine rice and lentils and many dishes for beans and wonderful ways to cook vegetables.

In Middle Eastern cuisine you will find hummus and falafel. Of course stir-fries are wonderful with vegetables and egg for protein, also vegetable fried rice. Pasta dishes also lend well to vegetarian options and pasta comes in such fun shapes and colors that kids adore.

Here is a simple vegetarian recipe you can try:

Savoury Pongal

Ingredients:

• Mong dal 1/3 cup
• Rice 1 cup
• Cumin
• Pepper
• Cut ginger
• Coriander leaves
• Curry leaves

Method:
1. lightly roast the mong dal
2. add rice and dal to pressure cooker with 4 cups of water and let the whistle go 2 times
3. then simmer for 5 minutes
4. heat oil or ghee and add spices, curry leaves and salt then add to the pongal
This is a easy and tasty traditional South Indian dish actually eaten on Pongal Harvest Festival in January. It is great eaten with spinach dal.

References:

1. Nutrition guide for toddlers on Kids Health
2. Infant and toddler nutrition on MedlinePlus

©2009 Littlestomaks.com. All Rights Reserved

Disclaimer – Information provided in Ask The Expert column on Littlestomaks.com is intended to give you general guidance on a question related to toddler nutrition. It is not meant to be treated as medical advice. You are welcome to contact this expert for a detailed consultation on your specific situation to determine what actions, if any, you should take regarding nutrition and health of your toddlers. We do not recommend you to take any action based solely on the information presented in this column. Experts have agreed to provide their professional opinion on toddler nutrition related questions on a voluntary basis and no compensation is offered to them by Littlestomaks.com.

Happy Friday! This photo touched my heart and reminded me the value of nutrition and care for our growing children. Sometimes, a picture really is worth a thousand words!

That said, here are the 5 interesting nutrition stories of the week that caught my eye. Enjoy and drop a comment to let me know what’s on your mind.

Eco-Atkins diet

A low carbohydrate, high protein Atkins diet is popular for weight loss, but carries the risk of increasing LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. Now some researchers are suggesting that a vegan diet rich in protein from plants and nuts reduces weight and lowers cholesterol, by as much as 20%. In a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, they concluded that a  plant-based low carbohydrate “eco-Atkins” diet resulted in about the same weight loss as a high-carbohydrate, dairy and whole grain vegetarian diet, but reduced the LDL cholesterol by a larger amount. Although the size of the study was small, it proves again the many benefits of a plant-based diet. Cutting down on meats which are rich in saturated fats and cholesterol is a good idea even though the specific results cited by this study may not be seen for everybody.

New FDA chief focuses on food safety

In an interview with the Associated Press, the newly confirmed FDA chief Dr. Margaret Hamburg put a high priority on restoring FDA’s credibility by using science-based information to drive decisions, and by implementing risk-based controls for early detection of food contamination in the farm-to-store supply chain. I don’t think there is anything earth-shattering here; this is precisely what the FDA is expected to do anyway. Also, this is what the public wants to hear in light of the peanut, pistachio, spinach, lettuce and tomato outbreaks. The public confidence in the nation’s food supply is shaken up, so naturally this is high on FDA’s agenda. What I would like to know is how she plans to fix the management system, improve visibility of problems and bring in a sense of accountability in the public office. Till then, these are simply nice sounding words and we will continue to remain one more outbreak away from another massive recall and public health scare.

Consumers want healthy food but unwilling or unable to pay more

According to the United Soybean Board’s 16th Annual Consumer Attitudes About Nutrition report, nearly 9 out of 10 consumers report wanting to buy nutritious and healthy food but only about half are willing to pay more. Of the remaining, about half say they want to but can’t afford nutritious food right now. A fairly large number of them also say that the food they buy is already healthy, and that the healthier version would not taste as good. There is a certain bias in this survey towards processed foods since that is clearly of interest to the soy industry. I don’t think they even considered asking questions about fresh vegetables and fruits and cutting down on meats. My guess is that the definition of healthfulness was limited to the nutrition facts label – the usual calories, fats, carbohydrates, sugars, proteins, vitamins and minerals etc. And the interesting fact about these labels is that even though most people do review them before buying, about half find the nutritional information confusing. With a limited definition of “healthfulness” and confusing nutritional information, how can we expect consumers to make the right trade-offs between buying healthy food and cost?

Challenges of reducing sugar in (processed) foods

I certainly cannot relate to the “challenges” faced by the food technologists in formulating foods with artificial sweeteners. Nor do I want to! But I found this podcast interview with the manager of sweetener technology at Tate & Lyle posted on the FoodNavigator site quite interesting. Turns out that sugar not only provides sweetness, it also affects the texture and feeling of the food. That is why, a simple substitution of natural sugar with artificial sweetener doesn’t work so well except in beverages. In ice cream, for example, reducing sugar or adding artificial sweetener can change its freezing point, and as a result, the consistency. In baked goods, sugar affects the color, taste, bulk and shelf life, which makes it difficult to reproduce with artificial sweeteners. So I guess they make these food technologists earn their paycheck after all! Anyway, this manager also commented that consumers want taste and choice, and for those wanting healthy foods with low sugar, it is a challenge to offer them all three. Tells me that her interpretation of what consumers want is incredibly – though understandably – quite narrow. What happened to fresh, natural, locally sourced, green, organic and wholesome? Guess they have decided not to listen to those customers since they will probably not be helping Tate & Lyle’s bottom line anyway!

Simplicity is the new message for “affordable” healthy food

My blogger friend and registered dietitian Janet Helm was recently interviewed by ABC News (Go Janet!) on the recent trend of going “back to basics” when it comes to food advertising. Janet has written about these trends on her blog Nutrition Unplugged in a couple of very interesting articles. So check out her blog and the ABC interview via her post Simplicity Sells in Tough Economic Times. Janet is also a contributor to my Ask the Expert where she recently wrote a very informative post about sushi and toddlers.

Enjoy your weekend! And let me know what you think.

Photo source – Thiru Murugan on Flickr
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

Ask The Expert is a weekly column on Littlestomaks.com. The idea is to have a reader-submitted question answered by a nutrition expert or a pediatrician. Feel free to submit your question in the comments section below.

This week, Registered Dietitian Preethi Rahul explains how you can ensure a complete nutrition for your child on a vegetarian diet.

Preethi Rahul Registered Dietitian, Diploma in Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics, Graduation in Nutrition, Food Service Management and Dietetics. Two years of rich experience in the field of nutrition, currently working with a Multinational Corporation Expertise in the field of Child nutrition and Diabetes LinkedIn Profile Contact: via email

Question: My child is on a 100% vegetarian diet. How do I ensure he gets a complete nutrition?

Answer:

Many people globally are certainly getting converted as vegetarians because of the many virtues a vegetarian diet has.

A vegetarian diet by itself is balanced as it has the cereals and sugars that provide the carbohydrates; pulses, milk and milk products that provide the proteins; Vegetables and fruits that provide the vitamins and minerals; Oil, ghee and butter that provide the fats. However, it is important that you give a balanced vegetarian diet to your child which on average, for a 4 – 9 year old child, would be around:

*1 serving is 30 g raw weight
*1 glass is 150 ml
*1 cup is 100 g

However the quality of vegetarian proteins is lesser than that of the non vegetarian sources. Thus, as a parent you need to ensure that you give good quality vegetarian proteins to your child. In order to improve the protein quality you can also make cereal-pulse combination recipes like Idlis, dhoklas, khichdi etc. Sources of good quality vegetarian proteins are soya, tofu, milk, curd, skimmed milk powder, paneer (cottage cheese), lentils, sprouts etc.

Highlight of a vegetarian diet are the vegetables and fruits! They make the food preparations colorful which is very essential for a child. Children love color and variety in their food. Vegetables and fruits contain vitamins and minerals which are needed in small amounts but have very specific actions in the system. For E.g. Vitamin D is needed for bone development; iron is needed for hemoglobin formation. This group also contains fibers- both soluble and insoluble that are needed to improve the bowel health, keep the digestive system healthy and functioning properly.

A colorful diet not only looks good on your plate but also provides all the necessary nutrients that help the body in its growth. For eg: Anthocyanines that cause the purple color regulate the blood circulation; They are richly present in berries. Quercetin that causes yellow color as well as anthocyanines helps to maintain good health of the retina. They are present in corn, apples and leafy vegetables such as spinach. The antioxidant Beta Cyanine present in beets causes the scarlet color in vegetables.

Thus, by having a vegetarian diet your child is getting a complete and a balanced nutrition and has a lesser chance of getting long-term health problems.

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